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Originally Posted by ahi
Increasingly it seems to me that the only thing of consequence Europe is decidedly behind North America is acknowledging and trying to combat racism.
- Ahi
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It will take a long time, still. In many cases, the individual countries are fairly homogenous groups with a long, common history and a strong sense of national identity. Any immigration of significance has been within the last 40 years, and in most cases people that are quite different - culture, religion, general education level, looks. It's quite a culture shock on both sides, and both sides still have much to learn. Most immigrants tend to settle in cities, too - if you grow/grew up in the country, and live in the country, chances are that you have had very little reason or opportunity to interact with any others but those like you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Amalthia
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From what I can tell there does appear to be some friction still because my husband still seems to hate the French part of the country a lot and blames them for having his political party outlawed. But is more okay with the German part (maybe shared history?)
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You can safely assume shared history
Or just history. There's many, many examples of "issues" between national/ethnic groups in Europe - and most of it goes far back (example: on a certain level Denmark still haven't gotten over losing to the Prussians (Germans) in 1864). The issues runs the gamut from serious, for example Northern Ireland or Cyprus, to the benign, friendly teasing you'd experience between Scandinavian countries.